The present invention relates to wire and cable stripping tools. Particularly, the invention relates to hand tools for stripping jackets and insulation of electric and communication cables for subsequent electrical and fiber optic connections.
There have been numerous designs of hand-held and operated wire and cable strippers, all of which aim at providing a tool which is easy to use, requires a relatively small operating force, and which can be manufactured relatively inexpensively, without greatly compromising functionality. One of the main features sought in these tools includes adjustment so as to suit different wire and cable diameters and insulation thickness.
One wire stripper is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,491,894 (Bieganski) and has outer jaws adapted to grip a wire sheath and inner jaws adapted to cut into the sheath before the inner jaws are displaced along a cable relative to the outer jaws to strip a cut portion of the wire sheath. In order to vary a position of one inner jaw relative to its outer jaw so as to cope with different insulation thicknesses, the wire stripper is provided with an eccentric adjuster.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,337,479 (Ducret) discloses a hand-held wire and cable stripper which includes a first handle formed with a U shaped channel for sideways reception of a jacket covered cable, a second handle pivotally mounted to the first bracket and having a cutting blade which projects into the channel for stripping a jacket. The stripper further includes a leaf spring cooperating with the cutting blade by maintaining the length of the blade tip at its desired setting for precisely cutting the jacket.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,713,249 (Liversidge) discloses a wire stripper including a pair of clamping jaws and a pair of stripping jaws. The wire stripper further includes an actuator that defines a cam profile cooperating with clamping and stripping jaws to effect linear sliding movement thereof. The actuator provides a smooth cutting operation with a substantially constant velocity between the linear movement of the stripping jaws and angular displacement of the clamping jaws.
With a wire and cable stripper in accordance with the invention one can facilitate and speed up preparation of electrical and communication cables for subsequent electrical or fiber optic connections by setting a desirable length of a cable to be stripped and by bringing the cable toward a cutting blade that controllably penetrates the cable at a predetermined thickness.
This is achieved with one wire and cable stripper that includes a depth setting member having at least one scale indicating blade penetration. As a result of the manipulation of the depth setting member, the cutting blade advances at a distance corresponding to a predetermined thickness of penetration into a workpiece.
In accordance with still another aspect of the present invention, the wire and cable stripper has a length adjustment member carrying at least one measuring scale to accurately measure a distance between an end of the cable and the cutting blade while displacing the cable along the wire stripper. This distance corresponds to a desirable length of the cable""s end to be stripped.
According to another aspect of the invention, the wire and cable stripper has a clamp for engaging a workpiece to enable the cable to slide along the stripper at the desirable length measured by the length adjustment member. Once this length has been reached, the clamp brings the cable towards the blade that penetrates into the cable at a depth set by the depth setting member.
In accordance with yet another aspect of the invention, a cutting blade has an eccentrically positioned cutting edge. The cutting blade freely spins about its axis to properly orient the cutting edge in response to the rotational and axial displacement of the cable and the stripper relative to each other. As a result, the cutting edge circumferentially cuts the cable during rotation of the cable and axially slices the cable upon pulling the cable and the stripper apart in a direction parallel to a longitudinal axis of the stripper.
It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to provide a wire and cable stripper capable of speeding up cable preparation for subsequent electrical and in fiber optic connections.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a wire and cable stripper, which has a length adjusting member for setting a desirable length of the cable to be stripped.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a wire and cable stripper, which includes a clamping member engaging a cable in a manner allowing the cable and the wire and cable stripper to move axially and rotatably relative each other.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide a wire and cable stripper, which has a depth setting member allowing easy adjustment of a cutting blade that penetrates a cable to be stripped at a desirable depth.
Still another object of the invention is to provide a wire and cable stripper with a cutting blade capable of orienting itself in a direction of a rotational thrust imparted on the cable.
Yet another object of the invention is to provide a wire and cable stripper with a cutting blade displaceable in a position wherein it is capable of producing a linear cut in an axial direction upon pulling the cable and the wire and cable stripper axially apart.
The invention and its particular features and advantages will become more readily apparent from the following detailed description when considered with reference to the accompanying drawings.